Internet use among Hispanic Americans has continued to grow, according to NTIA data, narrowing a racial disparity that has existed since NTIA began tracking adoption through its Internet Use Surveys in 1998. The proportion of Hispanic Americans using the Internet has risen from 61 percent in 2013 and 66 percent in 2015 to 72 percent in 2017, NTIA data show. Although this is still less than the 80 percent of non-Hispanic Whites online in 2017, the gap has begun to narrow. Internet usage rates for Hispanics are now similar to African Americans, who have also experienced gains in Internet use in recent years. While immigrants continued to be less likely to go online than their US-born peers in 2017, the differences appear to be shrinking. Internet use among non-U.S. citizens jumped by 11 percentage points between 2013 and 2017, from 62 percent to 73 percent, and adoption among naturalized citizens climbed from 68 percent to 75 percent during this period. New NTIA analysis shows that persons born in the US to immigrant parents were nearly as likely to use the Internet as those with two US-born parents. 

House Communications Subcommittee members appeared to be clearly favoring a Federal Communications Commission-led public auction of C-Band spectrum rather a private sale. That came in the subcommittee hearing "Repurposing the C-Band to Benefit All Americans" which looked at the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-BAND) Act, sponsored by Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA), Vice-Chair Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Reps Bill Johnson (R-OH) and Greg Gianforte (R-MT). That bill would mandate an FCC auction. The C-Band Alliance (CBA), comprising foreign satellite companies, has instead proposed a private-market sale rather than that FCC public auction, saying it will get the spectrum into the hands of carriers for 5G faster while still protecting the incumbent cable operators and broadcasters who get their network programming from distributors via C-Band satellite spectrum and providing some money to the treasury. The key issues for legislators on both sides are freeing up as much spectrum for 5G as quickly as possible, and preferably with lots of the proceeds going to the Treasury for broadband deployment and next-gen 911.

Chairman Doyle, who presided over the hearing, said that he found a lot about the CBA proposal "deeply disturbing," primarily that those companies would get the lion's share of a potential $60 billion a public or private auction could generate, money that could go to rural broadband buildouts, telehealth and next-gen 911. Chairman Doyle said the FCC and Congress needed to get the C-Band repurposing right because the spectrum was a "precious national resource." He said that if Congress gave away most of that $60 billion to foreign satellite companies, the American people would never forget it. Full Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said he did not necessarily believe the CBA argument that a private sale would get the spectrum to 5G faster than an FCC auction, and said there would be novel enforcement issues of CBA's proposal to turn over some undetermined amount of the proceeds to the Treasury. He said an FCC auction would be more likely to be fair, transparent and competitive and pointed to the FCC's expertise in holding over 100 spectrum auctions. Rep Johnson said FCC licenses don't confer property rights and that while he was all behind speeding 5G, he said he was focused on those without basic broadband access, which he said was hollowing out communities in his district and nationwide. Rep Johnson said he is tired of the "closing rural divide talk" and wants some action, which a public auction could provide in the form of billions for the Treasury and Congress allocating funds for closing the digital divide.  

Americans’ perceptions and assessments of local media. Americans mostly believe local news media are doing a good job performing many of their democratic roles and responsibilities. Americans assess local coverage of most important local issues positively, and they generally see local media as in step with, rather than at odds with, the political leanings of their local community. While Americans give local news organizations stronger ratings than national organizations across most trust dimensions, such as relevancy and transparency, evidence suggests this trust advantage is more a sign of skepticism toward national media than of enthusiasm toward local news organizations. Partisanship is becoming a powerful lens through which people evaluate not just national news organizations like CNN and Fox News, but also their local newspaper or TV station. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to trust local news to perform their roles, but the gap is especially wide when it comes to geing the facts right. Although 51% of Americans do not perceive that their local news has become more biased in recent years, those who believe it has are more likely to see a shift toward liberal views. Critically, Americans who perceive a shift in the bias of local news coverage are about half as likely to trust local news as those who do not. The study findings present a dilemma for local news. The data suggest that moving into more aggressive coverage of social and political issues could further polarize views — and possibly lead to an erosion of trust. However, these are not issues that local news organizations can abandon without abdicating some of their mandate to help democracy flourish.